BY ROBERT MOYES
Special to the Record
Vancouver Island MusicFest turns 30 this summer, and the programming has always included special musical hybrids and unique collaborations.
No single group better sums up this joyfully creative approach than the Grammy-winning trio-turned-quartet of Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain, Edgar Meyer, and Rakesh Chaurasia. Aside from being absolute masters of different genres – Fleck is best known as an insanely virtuosic bluegrass banjo player, Hussain is the master tabla player of Indian classical music, Meyer is a double bassist with a deep understanding of Western classical music, and recent inductee Chaurasia is a magician on a bamboo flute known as the bansuri – they are also exceptional improvisers.
Best of all, these quick-witted musicians are able to flow with quicksilver flair between genres: whether it’s the dazzling complexity of raga rhythms or the soul-shaking joy of a gut-bucket bass line strutting straight out of New Orleans, these guys are constantly shapeshifting within whole worlds of music like you’ve never heard before. This fusion of Indian and Western classical musics that also references bluegrass and jazz is simultaneously exotic, playful, and profound.
As AllAboutJazz noted in its review of their recent As We Speak CD, “These colourful sounds are at once insinuating and transportive. These are four musicians who, above all else, simply love to play, perhaps never more than they do here with such intuitive fluidity.”
Lanlois and friends
Similarly gifted at creating an evocative and engaging swirl of soundscapes is Quebec-born Daniel Lanois.
Possibly best known as a producer – a partial list of his remarkable credits ranges from collaborations with Brian Eno to work with Bob Dylan (Oh Mercy, Time out of Mind), U2 (Achtung Baby, The Joshua Tree), Emmylou Harris (Wrecking Ball), and Peter Gabriel (So).
Three Lanois-produced albums received Grammys, while four others were Grammy-nominated. Aside from his visionary and very influential work as a producer, Lanois is also a gifted guitarist and singer-songwriter, whose own music reaches back to 1989’s lovely Acadie.
He will be appearing at MusicFest with his recently formed trio, featuring Jermaine Holmes on drums and vocals, and Jim Wilson on bass and vocals.
His current tour is getting raves, being called “absolutely spectacular” by LetsTalkMusic.
“He is a master of tone in everything he does,” said MusicFest producer Doug Cox. “He is like a musical painter, especially in terms of his slide guitar playing.”
According to Cox, this will be the first time that Lanois has ever appeared in Courtenay.
“He is one of those special artists that I ask for every year just in case he’s available,” says Cox.
Irish connections
The folk music traditions of Britain and Ireland travelled to North America a few centuries ago, and much of that spirit can still be heard today, especially in the tunes and narratives of country music, Americana, and bluegrass.
Making that connection powerfully explicit is an acoustic Irish quartet called JigJam, with roots in Tipperary and Offaly.
These virtuosic players are at the forefront of a toe-tapping hybrid called iGrass (a.k.a. Irish bluegrass), and have been described as “the best Irish band in bluegrass” as well as “Ireland’s answer to the New Grass Revival.”
Armed with a guitar, fiddle, mandolin, dobro, and five-string and tenor banjos, JigJam create real excitement whenever they play – including a recent gig at the Grand Ole Opry, where they had the ecstatic audience leaping like leprechauns.
“JigJam are really interesting in that they figured out how to play bluegrass with an Irish accent,” said Cox. “It is such a clever fusion that they are being accepted in both the bluegrass and Irish communities.”
They are also excellent, soulful singers, proudly sporting their Irish accents. So, just how good are these guys?
Let’s just say if you’re really lucky they’ll uncork one of the best versions of Jolene you’ll ever hear.
Vancouver Island MusicFest runs from July 12-14 at the Comox Valley Exhibition Grounds. Visit islandmusicfest.com for a full lineup and ticket information
–Robert Moyes is an arts journalist with a particular interest in music